Sir Ian presented Sir Pat with the Empire Legend Award at Sunday night’s annual Empire Awards and began his speech by joking: ‘Why would you call Patrick a legend? Bless him, he was born in Yorkshire!’

He continued: ‘The range of his work is so gratifying and enviable… I’m trying to be serious here. He’s one of my heroes for the way he stands up for his causes. He’s the actor that people of my generation would like to be. But don’t you love my hair?’

As Sir Patrick made his way to the stage with a standing ovation, Sir Ian planted a kiss on his lips before adding: ‘A legend award? Come on Patrick, it doesn’t mean to say your career is over! I think it means I’m done!’

Thanking everyone for the award, Sir Pat, who along with Sir Ian found acclaim in recent years with the X-Men series, then decided to quote German philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche: ‘Success is an impostor. It conceals the flaw, the wound, the fundamental doubt at the core of the artists’ being.’

Then he added: ‘Well, I only quoted that as I wanted to go down as the only actor in history to quote Nietzche. But nevertheless, sometimes, Mr Nietzche, you are right, but not tonight. I don’t feel a fraud, I don’t feel misunderstood, I feel very proud and immensely happy, particularly to be sharing the stage with my friend, my brother Ian.

‘Thank you, Empire Awards, for a wonderful evening. Thank you.’

The pair have been friends for decades (Picture: Getty)

Other big winners included Tom Hiddleston, who scooped the Empire Hero award and joked that he wouldn’t be where he was now if he had never met his heroes: ‘They say never meet your heroes. I’m lucky enough that I wouldn’t be standing here if I hadn’t met mine. I’ve been lucky enough to work with them. And if I haven’t worked with them, I’ve attempted an impersonation of them on the Graham Norton show.’

Dame Joan Collins (Picture: Getty)

Tom Hiddleston (Picture: Getty)

LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 19: Gareth Edwards (L) and Felicity Jones win the award for Best Film for the film Rogue One during the THREE Empire awards at The Roundhouse on March 19, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was the big winner of the night, taking home Best Actress for Felicity Jones, Best Director for Gareth Edwards, and Best Film.

Felicity and Gareth both made their way on stage to accept Best Film and with Felicity standing behind him, Gareth joked:’“Felicity couldn’t be here tonight. But she sent a message: “I’d like to thank Gareth, who is the best director in the world…” See, this is the thing, you never get the chance to come up with any material.